Mata Prasad Pandey chosen as Uttar Pradesh's Vidhan Sabha Speaker

Veteran Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mata Prasad Pandey on Friday has been elected as Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha (the lower
house of state assembly) Speaker.

He was elected unopposed as he was the only candidate who had filled the nomination paper for this post.

This would be the second term for the 70-year-old Pandey, who was earlier speaker of the Vidhan Sabha between 2003 and
2007.

Pandey had filed seven sets of papers Friday and was supported by the ruling Samajwadi Party, the main opposition Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Peace Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Congress and several
independent legislators.

Known for his simple living, Pandey is a six-time legislator from Itwa seat in Siddharthanagar. He hails from an ordinary
Brahmin family and has been associated with the socialist movement right from his student life. A law graduate, Pandey was
first elected to the state assembly in 1980 and thereafter won in 1985, 1989, 2002 and 2007.